


Demons of the Fairground

by startrekkingaroundasgard



Series: Pride Prompts 2020 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Biphobia, Carnival, Comfort, F/F, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Other, Polyamory, Pride, Queer Relationship, Romantic Fluff, Suggestive Themes, Teasing, possessed teddy bears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24535366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startrekkingaroundasgard/pseuds/startrekkingaroundasgard
Summary: Clint, Natasha and the reader go on their first public date to a carnival. The reader is nervous but soon forgets their worries as Clint and Natasha distract them
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov/Reader, Clint Barton/Reader, Natasha Romanov (Marvel)/Reader
Series: Pride Prompts 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768873
Kudos: 27





	Demons of the Fairground

The sweet smell of caramel popcorn and fresh candy floss vied with the flashing lights and bright colourful signs for your attention. They had every kind of ride you could think of, from the tacky dodgems and carousel to a shifty looking rollercoaster that seemed to sway in the light summer breeze. 

Terrible covers of whatever passed for chart topping music blared out of hidden speakers above the ticket booths, the heavy bass a physical sensation that had the hair on the back of your neck standing tall. Thankfully, the pitchy melodies were lost beneath the excited screams of the children that zoomed past, high on sugar, towing behind their desperately tired parents and carers. 

It was a wonderful atmosphere, everything you'd hoped from the travelling carnival, but the magic was lost on you. Too nervous to properly take it all in, you fell behind Clint and Natasha, scouring the bustling maze of food stands and scarily dressed clowns for a quick exit. 

Natasha, always the most observant of you all, slowed to match your pace. Her fingers laced with yours and a wave of calm rolled over you. She always had that effect, your grounding influence. No matter what you went up against, be it killer aliens and genocidal tyrants or simply leaving the relative safety and privacy of the Compound, she was right there by your side to lend you her strength. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Everyone is staring at us.”

“So what if they are? We’re Avengers. It’s part of the territory.”

That wasn’t it, though. You’d been a part of the team long enough to know the difference between a kid staring at their heroes and a judgemental passerby. “You know it’s more than that.”

Her expression softened, a sad understanding spreading across her features. This was something you’d spoken about in length, on multiple occasions. Throughout your life, so many people had - knowingly or not - invalidated your feelings. You’d lost count of the number of people that had told you to ‘just make a choice’ or called you ‘greedy and selfish’ for being in a polyamorous relationship. No matter how you tried to ignore them, their words had left permanent scars and years later you were still suffering from the aftermath. 

It had taken months of painfully slow progress to get to this point with Clint and Natasha. Inside The Compound it was different. Practically none of the team were exclusively straight and you’d all suffered enough in life to risk letting something wonderful go so easily. Jumping into the deep end was easy when there was no judgement but out here in the ‘real’ world… 

“If it makes it easier, we can be here as just friends.”

Your heart was tight in your chest. You felt awful asking her to hide your relationship and felt even worse knowing that she would do it, without hesitation, without consideration of her own feelings, for you. You threw your arms around her neck and pulled her into a squeezing embrace, laughing weakly into her shoulder as she stood there stiff as a statue. 

Physical affection had never really been her thing, at least not big open gestures like this. Natasha much prefered to stick with gentle touches, skin brushing against skin, soft glances and a general proximity to the ones she cared for most. A hang up from her previous lives, you suspected. She’d been trained to use her body and her sexuality to get information and years of fluttering her eyelashes and draping herself over strangers had cheapened the contact. 

When she slowly slid her arms around your waist, pulled you flush against her body and pressed a light kiss to the base of your neck, you melted into her touch. Safe and protected in her arms, your worries no longer seemed so important. They hadn’t faded completely - one hug wasn’t going to push away years of ingrained negativity - but with her by your side the judgement of strangers wouldn’t cut so deep. 

“Ya lyublyu tebya.” Her words were barely a whisper on your skin but you felt the heat, the depth of them right in your heart. 

“I love you, too, Nat.” 

“Good.” She pulled back, eyes sparkling with a love reserved for you and Clint alone. It was so rare to see her this relaxed. Of course, Natasha was still hyper aware of your surroundings, just as you were, unable to switch off the part of her brain that screamed danger at every tiny movement but there was a determination there, too. She wouldn’t let anything spoil this day for you. “Did you see where Clint went?”

As if summoned by her query, your favourite archer strode back around a hotdog cart, a bright smile on his face. He threw his arms around you both and pressed a sloppy kiss to yours and Natasha’s cheeks, far more open with his affection. Either unaware or unbothered by the curious glance of a nearby couple, he practically jumped up and down with excitement as he led you towards a shooting gallery. “Right then, my beautiful ladies. I found our first stop. Start deciding which of the grand prizes you want now. I’ll win you whatever you desire.”

“You know these games are rigged, right?” you asked, leaning into his muscular frame. Where Natasha’s strength was contained, almost invisible to the naked eye, Clint’s was far more physically apparent. His arms, thick and strong from years of intense training, wrapped around you, shielding you against the world. 

“Clint Barton will not be defeated by a coconut.”

“Are we referring to ourselves in third person now?” Natasha asked, shooting you an amused glance behind the archer’s back. “Because Natasha thinks that’s stupid.”

Quick to chirp in, you added, “Y/N agrees. Although, Y/N does think that if anyone can do it, it’s Clint.”

“Oh, don’t encourage him!” 

“Oi! Some supportive girlfriend you are. That’s why Y/N is Clint’s favourite.”

Natasha shook her head, despairing. You often wondered yourself how two such ridiculous people as you and Clint could possibly be trusted with saving the world on a weekly basis but then supposed that madness was just par for the course. Breaking away from you to buy some tokens, the red head made you promise not to do anything stupid while she was gone - as if you could when she was still in eye shot, barely ten feet away. 

His fingers trailing the length of your arm, Clint leaned into you. Light stubble tickling against your skin, he pressed a kiss to your cheek and muttered, “I’m so glad we’re finally doing this. Have you decided on which prize you want yet? I think the big purple elephant would look great in the corner of our room.”

The grand prizes at the shooting booth were all nightmare inducing, if you were being honest, like walking through a terrifying zoo high on LSD. What was worse was that you knew Clint was being totally serious and whichever horrifying creature he won would spend the rest of its life in your bedroom. 

Quick to tell him so, you said, “That’s an elephant that wants to eat our souls, Clint. It’s seen the darkest corners of the universe and decided that the only way to survive is to kill or be killed. We are not, and I cannot stress this enough, ever putting that thing in our bedroom.”

“Why not?” Unknown to most supervillains, Clint’s greatest weapon was not his amazing accuracy or strength, nor his ability to get up and fight on when any other sane person would give in to their injuries and just die. Though great skills, they paled in comparison to his pout. Perfected over many years, those wide eyes and puffy bottom lip were almost irresistible. Almost. 

“Because, my dear, I am never going to be able to sleep with it staring at me like that. Let alone anything else you might hope to do in our bed.”

Clint’s eyes lit up, that cheekily knowing smirk spreading across his face. He pulled you to his chest, hands sliding dangerously low for a public place, a comfortable weight on your skin. Rocking his hips against yours, he hummed, “Is that so?”

You eyed the purple elephant and nodded, convinced. “Yep. No sexy times with that devil thing around.”

“Well, there are plenty of other rooms in the apartment…”

“It would still know. I’d feel its spirit watching us. Like a voyeuristic ghost.”

“I thought you liked being watched,” he teased, hands cupping your arse. “You seemed to like it last night when I watched you and Tasha together.” 

Heat spread across your cheeks at the memory, a delicious, dirty secret - definitely not suitable for a family fairground. You shoved him away, met only with a beautiful laugh as Natasha returned to save you from further teasing. She showed you the tokens then tucked them away in her pocket, not trusting either of you to keep them safe. “Shall we?”

Despite his best efforts, Clint did not manage to knock the coconut off of its stand. Not even three perfectly centred shots were enough to topple it but, sensing the danger of upsetting such a great shot - even when armed with nothing more than an air gun - the man running the stand let you choose a prize anyway. 

A fluffy, purple bear - decidedly less possessed - under arm, you, Clint and Natasha moved on to sample the other rides. Soon enough, you were so lost in the crappy magic of the fairground that all your earlier worries faded away to nothing. People stared as you walked by but only because Clint laughed like a dying horse at his own jokes. 

They held your hand as you rode the questionably unsafe roller coasters, all of which were more terrifying than any alien army, and you made a mental note to never eat chocolate covered bacon before going on the bouncing frog hopper ever again. Natasha was lethal on the dodgems and you both fell about in hysterics as Clint blamed the child in the back of your train cart for the screaming on the haunted train. It took showering him in love and attention to finally get him to speak to you again, only truly earning his forgiveness after you won him a small, slightly evil purple elephant on the ring toss. 

The day passed in a blur of bright colours and joyous screams, tight embraces and public kisses that you’d never imagined being able to share. When the night inevitably fell, you sat on a bench, hot chocolate in hand as you watched the lackluster fireworks light up the sky. Natasha draped herself over your lap as Clint cuddled you both from the otherside. 

“We should do this again,” Natasha said, rubbing her thumb over your knuckles. “It was fun.”

“Did you hear that, Clint? Natasha, the terrifying Black Widow herself, had fun!”

Clint shook his head. “Never. She hated every second of today.”

You looked at Nat, the red sparks of a falling firework lighting her face. Not guilty, exactly, but enough to prove there was at least some truth to Clint’s suspicions. She cupped your face gently and brushed her lips over yours. “I admit, it’s not my idea of fun but I got to spend the day with my two favourite people in the world. I got to watch you laugh and smile, to properly let go and enjoy yourself. Putting up with the loud noise and sweaty children is worth it for that.”

“Such a romantic,” Clint said, reaching across and capturing her mouth in a slow kiss. Treating you to the same delight, he then jumped up and held out a hand for you each to take. “Home time, I think. Y/N said something earlier about teddy bears and sexy times and I’m ready to hold her to that promise.”

“No, no, no. I did not promise sexy times with teddy bears!” you exclaimed, earning a very strange look from a passerby. Lowering your voice, you glared at Clint and his ridiculous purple elephant, willing at least one of them to spontaneously combust. “I said that there would be no sexy times with those things around.”

“Can we please act like adults and not keep calling it sexy time?” Natasha asked calmly. She put herself between you, the only true adult among you, breathing a deep sigh as you and Clint once again restarted your argument over the possessed fluffy demon toys. 

It was unsurprisingly Natasha who came up with a solution. She locked the purple teddies in a cupboard and promised to have an exorcist un-possess them in the morning. You spent the night cuddled up in each other’s arms, safe and sound, protected should the evil spirits attempt to kill you as you slept. Although decidedly lacking in sexy times, none of you seemed to mind too much, content to look back on an incredible day and take comfort in the presence of those you loved.


End file.
